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Q&A: Is it wrong to use different instruments in worship?

Is it wrong to use different instruments in worship?

Thanks for this important question. As part of this question, you offered a bit more background: “A fellow member and I disagree on whether it’s a good thing to use a variety of instruments in worship. This member grew up in an organ-only church. He says, ‘It’s wrong to change how we worship. I expect to hear guitar on the radio not in church.’ Aren’t we supposed to avoid causing offense?”

Since God has not commanded how people are to worship him, it is not surprising that Christians will, in freedom, arrive at different decisions on which instruments to use in worship services.

The Lutheran principles of worship

Worship preference is an emotional topic for many. To start, I think it’s important to remember that you and this member are seeking to win an agreement not an argument. Remember your goal: “Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). Listen to your fellow member to help you understand where he is coming from. This will help you mutually learn and instruct.

In worship, we encounter God through the means of grace. We express our praise and thanks to God. We encourage our fellow believers. We evangelize the unbelievers in our midst. Worship is important! We want to get it right. How do we decide what we do in worship?

As Lutheran Christians, we have found it wise to let the principles Luther drew from Scripture guide us. Principle #1 is “Let the gospel predominate.” The gospel “is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16). The gospel must take center stage. We will pick hymns and songs that proclaim the gospel. Text matters more than the tune or even the instrument. Does that mean we can never sing a favorite hymn or song that does not have rich content? No, but we will let the gospel predominate. Picture hymns like food. We want our hymns to proclaim the gospel. These are the steak of our worship, but it’s okay to have a Twinkie occasionally too. You just don’t want the whole meal to be Twinkies!

Principle #2 is “Let the people participate.” God’s people worship best when they are participating. They are not passive observers. The psalmist says, “May all the peoples praise you” (Psalm 67:3).

Principle #3 is “Let all of God’s gifts be used in worship.” Psalm 150 lists many instruments that can be used to worship the Lord. Seven instruments are listed in those six verses alone. The organ is not the only instrument that can be used.

Principle #4 is “Let the experience of the church be honored in worship.” There are traditions of the holy Christian church like the historic liturgy, the creeds, etc. There are WELS traditions like our order of service in our hymnals. There are congregational traditions. These can all serve to help us proclaim the gospel in worship. When it comes to worship changes, it would be unwise to throw the baby out with the bathwater without careful thought and instruction. As a friend of mine often says, “Christian worship is like a grand painting. Each generation gets to add its brush stroke, not to start over with the painting.” We bring new treasures as well as old out of the storehouse.

True biblical offense or preference?

A point that needs clarification is whether using different kinds of musical instruments in worship services is true biblical offense. The biblical sense of offense is not the same as when we use the word offend in everyday speech. If you say, “Dave, your tie really offends me,” you actually mean you don’t like my tie. The Greek word is skandalon or “stumbling block.” It refers to causing people to stumble in their faith and sin because of sinful living, false teaching, or providing a bad example.

We need to ask, “What is beneficial for worship?”

So, is the use of musical instruments other than an organ true biblical offense, or is it a matter of preference? In this case, it seems that we are dealing with preference. There is an anecdote about a worship coordinator who had put together a service, and afterward, a gentleman came out of the church and said, “That was a nice service, but I didn’t like that last hymn.” To which she quickly responded, “That’s okay; we weren’t worshiping you!” I’m not suggesting you say that, but it’s true! We have freedom (1 Corinthians 6:12) to use God’s gifts to give him glory (1 Corinthians 10:31). We will do so in an orderly way (1 Corinthians 14:40), while not placing unnecessary obstacles in anyone’s way (1 Corinthians 9:22,23) and not insisting on our preference (Romans 14:19).

Why do so many of our churches use the organ? The fact is that it is arguably the best instrument (or at least one of the best) to lead congregational singing simply because it can sustain notes. Some also say it suits the human voice because it mimics the air passing through the vocal cords. There are good reasons why the organ is used. However, does that mean it’s the only instrument that can be used? By no means! Because some Christian contemporary music that uses multiple instruments contains false teaching, some have equated the use of other instruments in worship with heterodoxy. This is like when some people equated replacing German with English in church as heterodoxy a hundred years ago. Why? Because some of the English churches were heterodox. Here, the motto Abusus non tollit usum is helpful: “The abuse does not cancel the use.”

Spiritual guidance for worship choices

We want to instruct so as not to offend (2 Timothy 4:2). An abuse of freedom is to change something abruptly without instruction, essentially saying, “Get over it,” to anyone who disagrees. First Corinthians 6:12 states, “’I have the right to do anything,’ you say—but not everything is beneficial.” So, we need to ask, “What is beneficial for worship?” I suppose we are free to set the liturgy to Metallica tunes, but would that be beneficial? No, the music would distract from the message. People may come to different answers to the question of what is beneficial, and that’s okay.

Remember why we do what we do in worship: “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). That means we will not insist on our personal rights. The apostle Paul says in Romans 14:19, “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” That means I will not allow my use of freedom to run roughshod over others. The use of Christian freedom has just as much to do with what we will not do to serve our neighbor as it does with what we are free to do. Luther’s paradox is helpful in this discussion: “A Christian is a perfectly free lord, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” We are free, but we use our freedom to serve others.

So when people use their freedom differently than you would in worship, be careful not to jump to judgment (Romans 14:10), but, rather, do everything in love (1 Corinthians 16:14).

Author: David Scharf
Volume 112, Number 02
Issue: February 2025

This entry is part 1 of 74 in the series question-answer

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This entry is part 1 of 74 in the series question-answer